Menswear sales beating the pants off retail expectations

Male shoppers getting more respect from department stores

The new men's lounge is shown at Holt Renfrew's Yorkdale location in Toronto.

Photograph by: Holt Renfrew
, Postmedia News

Men have long been the second-class citizens of Big Retail, banished to the nosebleed section of department stores and offered all the variety of a kids menu. “God’s waiting room” is how a top design expert describes the traditional model, and you can certainly see why given the demographic these stodgy conditions tend to attract.

Led by Millennials, however, a massive sea-change is finally seeing male consumers get the respect — and retailers the returns — they previously lacked. The NPD Group reports this week that in the year ending December 2013, Canadian apparel sales for men aged 20 to 35 saw staggering growth of 64 per cent in department stores, versus 18 per cent for that same demographic across all retailers.

The market researcher concludes that menswear is “primed for continued prosperity,” with room for tremendous growth. To wit, its current value is just under half that of womenswear: $7.5 billion versus $13.5 billion.

“Because the women’s market is saturated, major retailers and manufacturers have to grow their business elsewhere,” said Sandy Silva, fashion industry analyst for The NPD Group. “Millennial men are getting married later, they’ve got more money, they’ve got more time, and now they’ve also got more awareness (of trends) … Put all that together and you’ve got a brilliant cocktail for a new market in apparel.”

Silva described this segment as “low-hanging fruit,” which is resulting in department stores offering men greater brand variety, more space and an improved overall experience.

Holt Renfrew, for example, will open its first free-standing men’s store this fall, while the retailer’s recently renovated Yorkdale location in Toronto features a 1,500-square-foot men’s lounge with a variety of luxury labels, shaving station, motorcycle display, man-cave with game table, and such special events as cigar-rolling and Scotch-tasting.

On the more mainstream side of retail, Hudson’s Bay – Canada’s oldest department store – is also “aggressively going after” young male customers.

Recent efforts by the company include a 2014 ad-buy in GQ; sexier brand offerings aimed at Millennials; more lifestyle-oriented displays; dedicated spaces for such niche styles as streetwear and upscale contemporary; and modern tailoring that addresses the physical proportions of a generation likelier to hit the gym than the bar after work.

These changes, however, haven’t come easily. Men’s fashion director Nelson Mui said “you have to fight for that real estate,” explaining that everything in retail is based on prior success.

“Once upon a time, there was the stereotype of the guy forced to come in with his girlfriend but was more interested in keeping up with the latest sports scores,” said Mui. “But you’re starting to see a customer who knows what he wants, and who knows that to get the best job and to get the girl — or the guy — he needs to look good.”

JGA, a brand strategy and design firm, said this new direction is clear in recent visions put forth by major retailers in both the U.S. and Canada. Chairman Ken Nisch observed that department stores are increasingly aiming for spaces that offer a total experience — personal grooming, music, suiting and so on — as opposed to relying on the old model, which catered to the goal-oriented shopper who occasionally showed up to make premeditated purchases (“someone getting married or buried”) and then immediately left.

Said Nisch: “The fifth-floor men’s department was once one of the dullest, drabbest places in the store. In some ways, it was God’s waiting room: one or two ‘suit dogs’ who’d worked there 30 years, and racks and racks of brown and grey stuff hanging on the wall. Now, we’re seeing a whole new chapter.”

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